Hot melt adhesives (HMA) based on high flow, low crystallinity polyethylene polymers, such as AFFINITY™ GA 1900 or 1950 have seen considerable growth over the last decade primarily due to their excellent benefits in processability, adhesive performance, and low cost. Despite this success there are niche applications where customers require better heat stress and cohesion, such as book binding applications and packaging applications, in which the adhesive experiences elevated temperatures during packaging, delivery and storage.
One approach to improving the cohesive properties of the HMA is to blend the polyethylene polymer with a propylene-based polymer such as VERSIFY™ 4200. However, polyethylene polymers and propylene-based polymers do not blend with one another particularly well (e.g., due to the inherent incompatibility of polyethylene and polypropylene polymers), and as such, produce a mixture that is less than desirable for HMA applications that require good adhesive properties under stress conditions, e.g., elevated temperatures. Accordingly, embodiments relate to a hot melt adhesive composition that has improved blending between an ethylene-based polymer and a propylene-based polymer.